Monday, January 26, 2015

2014-15 NBA Power Rankings Week 14

The surprise season for the Atlanta Hawks as this highlight shows continues ...

Here are my NBA Power Rankings heading into Week 14:

1. Atlanta Hawks (Record 37-8, Last Week 1): The HAWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWKS have now won 16 games in a row.

2. Golden State Warriors (Record 36-6, Last Week 2): Not only did Klay Thompson score 52 points against the Kings last week, but he scored 37 points in the third quarter alone.

3. Memphis Grizzlies (Record 31-12, Last Week 4): After a multi-game absence, Zach Randolph now has eight double-doubles in a row and he has 34 double-doubles on the season.

4. Portland Trail Blazers (Record 32-13, Last Week 3): Instead of missing the next six to eight weeks, LaMarcus Aldridge surprised many by opting to postpone surgery and scored 26 points against the Wizards on Saturday.

5. San Antonio Spurs (Record 29-17, Last Week 10):Kawhi Leonard has three double-doubles with multiple steals in his past four games. He had six double-doubles in his first 24 games of the season.

6. Los Angeles Clippers (Record 30-14, Last Week 11): The Clippers have scored 120-plus points in five of 11 games this month and are averaging 113.8 points over their past six games.

7. Houston Rockets (Record 31-14, Last Week 5): Leading the NBA in Win Shares (9.8) and Value Over Replacement (8.1), James Harden has scored 33-plus points in four consecutive games, the first time in his career that he has done so.

8. Washington Wizards (Record 30-15, Last Week 6): Point guard John Wall is averaging more than 10 assists and two steals per game; Chris Paul (four times) and Rajon Rondo (once) are the only other active players to do that for a season.

9. Cleveland Cavaliers (Record 25-20, Last Week 12): Since returning from his knee injury, LeBron James has averaged 30.28 points, 6.86 rebounds, 6.29 assists and 2.14 steals per game as the Cavs have won six of seven games.

10. Chicago Bulls (Record 29-17, Last Week 7): No longer on a minutes restriction, Derrick Rose has averaged 22.63 points, 5.75 assists and a steal per game over his last eight games.

11. Toronto Raptors (Record 29-15, Last Week 8): After scoring zero, six and eight points in his previous three games, DeMar DeRozan broke out of his scoring slump with 25 points on 8-of-14 shooting on Sunday. (He was 6-of-34 in his previous three games.)

12. Dallas Mavericks (Record 30-15, Last Week 9): Not only is Tyson Chandler shooting 66.9 percent from the field (second-highest of his career), but he is shooting a career-high 74.3 percent from the line. Chandler ranks second in the NBA in true shooting percentage behind only Kyle Korver.

13. Oklahoma City Thunder (Record 22-22, Last Week 13): Over the past eight games, Russell Westbrook has four double-doubles and a triple-double. In those eight games, he's averaging 21.25 points, 9.88 assists, 7.25 rebounds and 2.88 steals per game.

14. Phoenix Suns (Record 26-20, Last Week 14): Currently sitting in the 8th seed in the West, the Suns have a brutal schedule before the All-Star break. Their next five games: Washington (30-15), Chicago (29-17), Golden State (36-6), Memphis (31-12) and Portland (32-13).

15. New Orleans Pelicans (Record 23-21, Last Week 16): In his past 10 games, Eric Gordon has connected on nearly half of his three-point attempts (22 of 47, 46.8 percent).

16. Charlotte Hornets (Record 19-26, Last Week 20): As badly as the Hornets began the season, they have now won nine of their past 11 games.

17. Milwaukee Bucks (Record 22-22, Last Week 15): The Bucks have the league's worst turnover ratio (18.7 per game) in January and they have been even worse in the fourth quarter (20.3) this month. (On the season, the ratio was 15.8 in Q4 for the Bucks.)

18. Detroit Pistons (Record 17-28, Last Week 17): The loss of Brandon Jennings (Achilles) for the season is a big loss, but D.J. Augustin stepped up with a career-high 35 points in his first start following Jennings' injury.

20. Brooklyn Nets (Record 18-26, Last Week 21): Based on some reports, the Nets could soon unload Joe Johnson's contract in exchange for a package of players that includes Lance Stephenson, who went to Lincoln High School in Brooklyn.

21. Indiana Pacers (Record 16-30, Last Week 23): Not exactly Thompson's 37-point third-quarter performance, but Damjan Rudez scored 16 of his 18 points in the fourth quarter as the Pacers ended a seven-game losing streak with a win over the Magic on Sunday.

22. Denver Nuggets (Record 18-26, Last Week 18): After a five-game winning streak earlier in the month, the Nuggets have lost six consecutive games and will face the Clippers, Pelicans and Grizzlies on the road in their next three games.

23. Sacramento Kings (Record 16-27, Last Week 22): Since their surprise 9-5 start, the Kings have lost 22 of 29 games including their past six games in a row.

24. Orlando Magic (Record 15-32, Last Week 24): Rookie point guard Elfrid Payton has been playing great basketball. Over his past seven games, he has averaged 13.29 points, 8.29 assists, 4.0 rebounds and 2.14 steals per game .

25. Utah Jazz (Record 16-28, Last Week 25):Rudy Gobert ranks third in the NBA in blocks per game (2.2), but he leads the league in block percentage (7.9) by far over Anthony Davis (6.1).

26. Boston Celtics (Record 15-27, Last Week 26): Being showcased for a potential trade, Brandon Bass has averaged 12.67 points and 9.33 rebounds per game over his past three games.

27. Philadelphia 76ers (Record 8-36, Last Week 28): Even though the Sixers don't have the league's worst record, they rank last in the league in net rating (-12.1). (Net rating is difference between Offensive Rating and Defensive Rating -- essentially a scoring margin per 100 possessions.)

28. Los Angeles Lakers (Record 12-33, Last Week 27): The glass-half-full view of Kobe Bryant (torn rotator cuff) missing the rest of the season is the Lakers have a stronger shot of keeping their first-round pick (it goes to Phoenix if outside the top-five picks).

29. New York Knicks (Record 8-37, Last Week 30): In their most recent game, three of the Knicks starters were on 10-day contracts including Langston Galloway, who has averaged 14.5 points and 6.25 rebounds as a starter.

30. Minnesota Timberwolves (Record 7-36, Last Week 29): As bad as the T'Wolves have been, Nikola Pekovic (12 games), Kevin Martin (nine) and Ricky Rubio (five) have played a combined 26 games. Pekovic has returned to the lineup and K-Mart and Rubio should be back soon.